If you’re a man and if you’re still going strong after your 50th birthday, the chances are you're going to experience problems with your prostate. Up to 40% of all men in the UK have enlarged prostates. In the U.S, 50% of all men have enlarged prostates by age 50 and 95% have enlarged prostates by age 85. For a gland as small as a walnut, the prostate can cause you a large amount of trouble. Enlarged prostate is also known as "benign prostatic hyperplasia" or BPH. It is a condition caused by an overgrowth of prostate gland cells that disrupts the flow of urine. According to UK health insurer BUPA, benign prostatic hyperplasia is very common - up to four in 10 men over 65 in the UK have it.

Enlarged prostate is a common complaint but how does it affect your health and well-being? Benign prostatic hyperplasia can cause a significant amount of distress. Is it dangerous? Can you prevent enlarged prostate, or cure the condition?

What Are the Causes of Enlarged Prostate?

Your prostate is found just below your bladder and it surrounds the urethra, the thin tube that transports urine out of your body through your penis. The prostate plays an important role in the production of your sperm but you’ll probably not pay it a second thought until you have problems.

The prostate becomes enlarged in response to a male hormone, dihydrotestosterone, which is responsible for prostate growth. This hormone is the direct cause of enlarged prostate. Normally your body balances a mixture of hormones to promote both cell growth and cell death. An enlarged prostate occurs when cells enlarge more than they decline.

No one really knows why some men develop benign prostatic hyperplasia and some don’t. One thing is clear, however – you are more likely to suffer from enlarged prostate as you grow older because prostate size increases slowly. According to the Mayo Clinic, the risk of enlarged prostate increases by about 4 percent a year after the age of 55. By 60, half of all men will suffer from benign prostatic hyperplasia and 95 percent will suffer by age 85.

What Is the Size of a Normal Prostate?

A normal prostate gland is shaped roughly like a triangle. The longest of the 3 sides is usually between 3.75 centimeters and 4.00 centimeters. The other 2 sides are between 2 and 2.5 centimeters. Usually, of the 2 shorter sides, one is about 1.9 to 2 centimeters and the other is about 2.5 centimeters.

What Are the Symptoms of an Enlarged Prostate?

If you have an enlarged prostate, you are likely to have problems with urination. These problems are wide ranging. You may urinate more often, despite passing the same amount of urine.

An enlarged prostate causes a sudden urge to urinate but also, on the other hand, a difficulty in starting to pass urine. You may have a weak, stop-and-start stream or need to strain to pass, which can cause pain. An enlarged prostate can significantly disturb your sleep as you wake up to five times a night to visit the bathroom. You could experience incontinence, an involuntary leaking.

Will An Enlarged Prostate Turn Into Cancer?

Does and enlarged prostate always become prostate cancer? Fortunately, the answer is no. While benign prostatic hyperplasia, as the name suggests, is not life threatening the symptoms of an enlarged prostate can be similar to prostate cancer. If you are experiencing these symptoms you should see your doctor who can rule out prostate cancer.

Having benign prostatic hyperplasia doesn’t mean you will get prostate cancer. But an enlarged prostate is an irritating and disruptive condition in itself. An enlarged prostate can cause distress when you must plan your social activities to be close to a bathroom or rest stop. You may feel embarrassed by having to hide your condition. Having to get up many times at night makes you exhausted the next day, making activities difficult, and can irritate your partner.

Although common, an enlarged prostate is not a natural part of aging and you don’t need to suffer with it. Benign prostatic hyperplasia can also worsen without treatment, sometimes resulting in complete blockage of the urethra.

An enlarged prostate is easier to treat if you start early. While some men take alpha-blockers and 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors to increase the flow of urine and reduce the size of the prostate, recent research shows many natural remedies treat an enlarged prostate. Lifestyle changes can also reduce your symptoms of enlarged prostate. Which natural remedy or lifestyle change is best for you?

Top 10 Natural Remedies for Enlarged Prostate

1. Saw Palmetto is a Popular Natural Remedy for Enlarged Prostate

Certain herbs can reduce an enlarged prostate. One of the most popular alternative treatments for enlarged prostate is a native plant that grows along the ocean in Georgia and Florida. Saw palmetto is a widely used phytotherapeutic treatment for an enlarged prostate.

A 2000 study from the Minneapolis VA Center for Chronic Diseases Outcomes Research looked at 18 trials involving 2,939 men who took Serenoa repens, an extract from saw palmetto, and placebo. Men taking Serenoa repens reported greater improvements in passing urine than those taking the placebo.

In a 2002 study from Academic Hospital Nijmegen, Nijmegen Sint Radboud, Pays-Bas, the 811 men who took saw palmetto had equally beneficial effects as those that took a standard drug, the alpha-blocker tamsulosin.

Saw palmetto can be just as effective as conventional medicine for treating an enlarged prostate, without as many side effects. No one is sure why saw palmetto works but it is believed to affect male hormones. And it does so without changing protein-specific antigen levels. Tests that measure protein-specific antigen levels are used to screen for prostate cancer and drugs to treat enlarged prostate may artificially lower these levels, consequently masking prostate cancer.

One word of caution. Although saw palmetto is generally regarded as safe, doctors have reported acute pancreatitis as a possible side effect. In 2011 a team of researchers from the University of Connecticut reported a case of a 61 year old man who was taking saw palmetto for an enlarged prostate and who developed acute pancreatitis after taking the supplement for 3 years.

2. Pygeum Can Reduce Symptoms of Enlarged Prostate

The bark of the tall, evergreen pygeum tree that is native toAfrica has been used to treat urinary problems for centuries. Its modern-day effectiveness for treating enlarged prostate has been demonstrated in over 17 trials involving around 1,000 men, which reported that pygeum can reduce symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

One 1990 study from the Laboratoires Debat, Paris, Frankreich – “Efficacy of Pygeum africanum extract in the medical therapy of urination disorders due to benign prostatic hyperplasia: evaluation of objective and subjective parameters. A placebo-controlled double-blind multicenter study” – looked at 263 men between the ages of 50 and 85. Participants who took 50 mg of pygeum extract twice daily showed significant improvements in the severity of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

3. Nettle Root Reduces an Enlarged Prostate

Extracts made from The leaves and roots of the" stinging nettle" plant can be used for good purposes when set against an enlarged prostate. The stinging nettle, whose technical name is urtica dioica, belongs to the urticaceae family of plants native to Europe and Eurasia.

Nettle root is a popular European treatment but not as highly studied as saw palmetto or pygeum. A 2006 study from Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran gave 558 men nettle root for six months, or a placebo. The results indicated that nettle root was significantly more effective than placebo in lessening the severity of an enlarged prostate.

4. Beta-sitosterols Can Treat the Symptoms of Enlarged Prostate

Many plants contain compounds called sitosterols and sitosterolins. When these compounds are mixed together they’re called beta-sitosterols and they have been used as a treatment for an enlarged prostate. A 1999 review by Drs. T.J.Wilt, MacDonald and Ishani examined 4 studies on beta-sitosterol as a treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia, studying 519 men.

Three of these studies found that beta-sitosterols improved urine flow in men with enlarged prostates. One of the reviewed cases, a 1995 study from the Department of Urology, Ruhr-University, Germany, followed 200 men with benign prostatic hyperplasia for six months and followed the participants for another year, and found that even after a year, the benefits of using these plant sterols continued.

5. Grass Pollen Is Used to Treat Enlarged Prostate

No kidding, the same grass pollen that makes you sneeze in the spring can help reduce your enlarged prostate.

A 1990 study from the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, looked at 57 men with enlarged prostate. 31 men tool 92 mg of grass pollen extract daily for six months and 26 men took a placebo. The study found statistically significant improvements in cutting down night time urination and 69 percent of the men taking grass pollen reported overall improvement in symptoms, compared with just 29 percent of the placebo group. Grass pollen also reduced the size of the prostate gland.

6. Green Tea Can Help Treat The Symptoms of Enlarged Prostate?

One study suggests that green tea extracts may help reduce enlarged prostate symptoms. The 2006 University of Parma research showed green tea catechins proved to be effective in inhibiting cancer growth but that the compounds also reduced lower urinary tract symptoms. Researchers suggested green tea may be effective in treating the symptoms of benign prostate hyperplasia.

7. Zinc as a Suggested Treatment For Enlarged Prostate

Zinc helps erectile health in general and it is commonly recommended in Europe as a treatment for enlarged prostate. Although research is lacking to support the claim, zinc may be effective in shrinking the size of the prostate gland and inhibit the activity of the enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, an action that can cause prostate enlargement.

Where can you find zinc? Pumpkin seeds are one of the best sources of zinc. In fact, pumpkin seeds are approved for use in the treatment of an enlarged prostate by Germany's commission of health.

8. Follow a Prostate-Friendly Diet

If you want to prevent enlarged prostate, look no further than your kitchen cupboard or grocery store.

A study published in the 2009 American Journal of Epidemiology found that diet dramatically affects the development of an enlarged prostate.

The researchers looked at 4,770 men who did not have enlarged prostate and monitored their intake of different types of food and drink and their use of supplements.

The researchers found that while the use of supplements had no impact, the risk of developing an enlarged prostate was lower among those who followed diets high in protein and vegetables and low in fat and red meat. A healthy diet will give a whole host of health benefits as you age, so stock up on the fruit and vegetables now.

9. Botox Can Relieve Enlarged Prostate Symptoms

An unusual finding suggests that injecting Botox into the prostate of men with benign prostatic hyperplasia eases symptoms and improves sufferers’ quality of life for up to a year after the procedure.

The 2007 study from the Chang Gung University Medical College, Taiwan, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine looked at 37 men with benign prostatic hyperplasia. 27 of the patients experienced a 30% improvement in urinary tract symptoms and quality of life, but no significant side effects.

10. Moderate Alcohol Intake For a Healthy Prostate?

It’s often said that men with an enlarged prostate should steer clear of alcohol to avoid worsening the condition. Many doctors will routinely suggest this as part of lifestyle changes to lessen symptoms.

But while cutting down on alcohol can bring benefit to many other parts of your body, it is not certain that abstaining is best for your prostate.

Claus Georg Roehrborn, MD, of the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, presented findings at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Urological Association that reported the more alcohol men drank, the better their symptoms became.

Roehrborn examined 19,000 men and found that “those who drink alcohol had a lower total International Prostate Symptom Score compared to those who do not drink.” No one is entirely sure why this is case and scientists would not suggest a teetotaler develops a drinking habit to remedy an enlarged prostate.

But drinking in moderation if you already drink – one or two drinks a day - could have a beneficial effect on your benign prostatic hyperplasia symptoms.